Culture

If you have hepatitis B or C and get treated like you are a sex worker or a drug addict, you are not alone. As many as half of people infected with viral hepatitis have suffered discrimination and one-quarter admit that family members have avoided physical contact with them after finding out they had the infection.

Shortages of key antibiotics, including gold-standard therapies and drugs used to treat highly resistant infections, are on the rise, according to a new study of shortages from 2001 to 2013 published in Clinical Infectious Diseases and available online. The trends raise serious concerns about the effects on patient care, particularly for infections without effective alternative treatment options.

Due to the ever-increasing number of people using social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, businesses and organizations, such as professional sports teams, are expanding their marketing and communication efforts to engage people with their brands through those sites.

If you were to find yourself in a particular corner of east London in the last weekend of April, you might come across an unexpected event. The ExCel Centre is hosting the official Sherlock fan convention, and so a host of cast and writers will assemble there amongst hundreds of eager fans to immerse themselves in the world of the famous detective. Tickets range from £29 to an astonishing £2995, which includes a photo shoot of you with each of the attending guests.

Doctors routinely ask new patients if they smoke because smoking has been shown to be a risk factor for various diseases. And that is the reason some doctors say they should ask about gun ownership. There may be something to that, the overwhelming majority of gun deaths are in suicides, but it would be like doctors in Japan asking patients if they own rope, since that is the top form of suicide in that country.

The vast majority of surgeons continue to recommend that women 40 years old or older with an average risk for breast cancer be screened annually for the disease, despite a 2009 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendation that such women only be screened biennially beginning at 50 years old and continuing through age 74.

It's estimated that six out of 1,000 children worldwide are affected by autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and 50 percent demonstrate serious and disruptive behavior, including tantrums, aggression, self-injury and noncompliance.

For children with ASD, serious disruptive behavior interrupts daily functioning and social skills development, limits their ability to benefit from education and speech therapy, can increase social isolation and intensify caregiver stress.

In a study that included approximately 95,000 children with older siblings, receipt of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine was not associated with an increased risk of autism spectrum disorders (ASD), regardless of whether older siblings had ASD, findings that indicate no harmful association between receipt of MMR vaccine and ASD even among children already at higher risk for ASD, according to a study in the April 21 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on child health.

All hot topics in culture related to science and medicine have a veil of factuality but are really just about politics, and sometimes economics. In that regard, climate change policy is no different than energy or vaccines or genetically modified foods, it is only the political leaning of the critics that changes.

The first national investigation of Medicare coverage of biologic disease modifying drugs (DMARDs) found that in starting a single biologic DMARD, patients face more than $2,700 in copayments each year before receiving relief from catastrophic coverage.

Dutch doctors withhold/withdraw treatment in a substantial proportion of elderly patients, reveals research published online in the Journal of Medical Ethics.

But their decisions don't seem to be driven by ageism; rather, they are more likely based on considerations of comfort and respect and the avoidance of futile treatment, conclude the researchers.

Following a first seizure, physicians should discuss with patients whether it is appropriate to prescribe medication to reduce risk of another seizure, according to new guidelines released at the American Academy of Neurology meeting.

A new study provides a possible explanation of reports that mothers of twins are more likely to have smoked, despite evidence that nicotine reduces fertility.

Nicotine has an effect on hormone production, and while smoking may have deleterious effects on fertility, the study found that it may raise the likelihood of producing twins in women with certain genetic backgrounds. The researchers discovered significant interactions between smoking and variants in several genes, especially one in the TP53 gene.

In a new "Keeping the Gate" blog post published at Science 2.0, forensic science expert John M. Collins Jr. argued that standards of professional care and conduct are needed for the review of scientific evidence in post-conviction litigation.

Household pets can transmit infection to people, especially those with weak immune systems, young children, pregnant women and seniors, according to an article in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Health care providers and pet owners should be aware of this risk to prevent illness in vulnerable people.